52 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XIII 
ing abundantly in suitable places throughout the entire, district. The Indian 
name is Haw'-he and my informant told me in connection with the matter what he 
considered quite a joke. He was working for a man who asked him the Indian 
name for the dove and was told correctly. The next day they saw the bird again, 
and the Indian, wishing to see how well the term was remembered, asked for the 
name. The white man at once responded “He-haw.” The Indian laughed heartily 
as he told the story, and all that day whenever we saw a dove he would say He-haw 
and chuckle. 
During November and December they are fewest in number, but in January 
and February many more arrive, and in the breeding months they are everywhere. 
Nesting begins the first part of April, my first find being dated April 12, the nest 
containing eggs partly incubated. Many nests were noted during April, May, 
June and July, with no attempt made to keep a correct census of them. August 13 
was the latest date, and on that day two nests with eggs were seen. Nests were 
abundant from April 15 till July 15 and in all sorts of situations. One was on the 
ground under a cotton plant, and others in trees as high as twenty feet from the 
ground. The average height was seven and a half feet, and extremes were three 
feet and twenty feet. Mesquite trees being more numerous contained the most 
nests, though many were found in other growth, such as Sarcobatus or greasewood, 
Cholla cactus, willow, Baccharis, Zizyphus or wild jujube, Atriplex or salt bush, 
Prosopis or screw-bean, ironwood, cottonwood, and pear tree. A favorite site was 
on top of a mesquite stump where the young shoots formed a shade and conceal- 
ment. The brooding bird as a rule was quite tame on the nest, and generally went 
through the pretence of being wounded when scared from her home. After the 
young are grown, small flocks are seen on cultivated fields all fall and winter. The 
Indians never hunt them and they are quite tame. 
The White-winged Dove or Sonora Pigeon, MelopeJia asiatica, is migrator}^ 
arriving here about the 20th of April. Their coming is coincident with the ripen- 
ing of the berries of the wild jujube, Zizyphx(S /ycioidcs, upon which they feed 
greedily as long as the fruit lasts, consuming both ripe and green. The Pima term 
for the bird is Aw-kaw'-kwe. The}^ come in such great numbers that the wheat 
fields suffer and the loss is considerable. The Indians try to frighten them away 
from the fields but do not hunt them. Probably they figure that ammunition 
would count up more on the debit side than would the wheat destroyed. At pres- 
ent there is no closed season and the beautiful birds may be shot whenever present. 
There was an attempt recently made to have them protected, but such a howl went 
up from the ranchers that nothing was done. It seems a pity to hunt them during 
the breeding season, but if we were raising wheat we might look upon the practice 
with more philosophy. The white color pattern shown when the bird is in flight 
is quite striking. When perched, the white on the wings is rather inconspicuous, 
but in motion it shows as two broad crescents, and the white crescent-shaped bar 
across the tail, generally spread a little in flying, adds greatly in producing the 
striking effect. 
From the day of their arrival in spring they set up a continual call which may 
be roughly described as Co-co'-o-cok'-co-co'-o. 
This call is heard in all directions from morning till night and in such volume 
that it becomes a sort of continuous bass hum, a background or sounding board for 
all the other bird songs and calls. It lacks the plaintive tone of the Mourning 
Dove call, and to most people becomes a dreary monotonous droning -which wears 
on their nerves. Be that as it may, the sight and sound of the bird is part and 
parcel of the mesquite desert and would be sorely missed. The gunner, in these 
